Arman Pashikyan lets victory slip away in the last tour of Aeroflot Open 2009

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Armenian Champion and grandmaster Arman Pashikyan ceded his championship to the French Etienne Bacrot, losing the final 9th round game of Aeroflot Open 2009 International Chess Festival in Moscow from Feb 16 to Feb 27.

Before the last tour, Pashikyan was the sole A1 tournament leader (among chess players with a rating higher than 2549) and even a draw would make him a winner.



Hrant Melkumyan became the only Armenian chess player to win А1 tournament, whereas other players had poor success.



Thus, Pashinyan showed the best results among Armenian chess players and came 9th with 6 points to his score.



Best Dresden chess player Gabriel Sargsyan took the 14th place with 5,5 points. Grand master Zaven Andreassyan was ranked 20th upon tournament completion. French and Ukrainian grandmasters Etienne Bacrot and Alexander Maisenko gained a victory, having scored 6.5 points each.



А2 Tournament resulted in 2 victories for the Armenian grand Master Khavhiyan Melikset and Russia's Alexander Danin, with 7 points each.



The total prize fund of the four tournaments is EUR 140 000: Tournament A1 -21 000 eur, Tournament A2 -9 000 eur , Tournament B -3 500 eur, Tournament C - 2 000 eur.



A1 tournament winner will participate in Dortmund Super Tournament due in July.





World Quick-chess Championship Qualifying Tournament will be held today. The teams will compete using the Swiss-System of 9 tours, 2 sets in each.



6 winners will participate in the World Championship Final due in November. Participants of A1 and A2 tournaments as well as 3 B and C tournament winners will be playing in the qualifying tournament free of charge. The total prize fund is EUR 40 000 with 10 000 for the first prize winner.